Shawshank+Redemption+-+In+class+essay

Shawshank Essay Ember Lepage July 8th 2011 Shawshank Redemption. An epic tale of a man named Andy who goes to jail for being wrongly convicted of killing his wife, and with 20 years hard work scrapes away his window to freedom. In a few clusters of words I’m going to evaluate this movie. I’m going to compare the two main characters, Red and Andy, who were very similar in a very opposite sort of way. When Andy is imprisoned he meets Red, who’s been institutionalized for a very long time. At this point, Red having lived in prison for the majority of his life, has adjusted to the lifestyle like it’s the only one he’s lived. Andy on the other hand, doesn’t settle in too easy. With the right motivation, and the overwhelming desire to be free, he acquires a small pickaxe. He stashes it in a hole carved into the pages of a bible he received from the warden. Andy uses this pickaxe to break away chunks of the wall behind an old movie poster of Raquelle Welch. In the end of the movie, and the end of the hole in the wall, Andy crawls through a sewer to a stream on the other side. He rips off his prison clothes, in liberation and escapes the premises with a victorious glow, and newfound appreciation for the life that he had before Shawshank. A free mans life. Long before Red escapes, he makes a promise to Andy that if he ever gets out, he’ll go to this place in a small town and check out a molten, otherworldly rock. The place where Andy made love to his wife and asked her to marry him. The place where he almost pulled the trigger on her. When Red gets on probation, he hitches a ride to the place he promised Andy he would venture. Under the rock he finds some money and a letter addressed to him from Andy. The letter gave him further instruction on where to go. It also sort of gave him a purpose. Since Red had been back in the real world, he was clueless on what to do with his life. There was so much to do, he didn’t know what to do at all. There were so many places to go, if he went anywhere he would get lost. Shawshank was part of him now, and there was no way to shake it. When Red arrives at the place the letter told him to go, He is reunited with his old friend, and they start their new lives together. Free. Although the ending was extended to satisfy the viewers, this was a pretty happy ending for a Stephen King movie. It shows Red did follow through with the journey. It shows he didn’t get total culture shock and do something radical to break his probation and get sent back to jail. Which is something he would have done if Andy wasn’t there to lead him. Andy was an independent man. He knew where he wanted to be, the only thing that was stalling him was being trapped in the dark, inhumane borders of Shawshank. I think very deep down Red knew what he wanted too, but whatever that was had just been unattainable for so long he forgot. In the end Andy helps Red adjust to the outside world he was accustomed to, just like Red helped him get through the hard, depriving life of prison, he was so used to.